Stefan (Lost Nights Series Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

distractions about where I was staying or new orders coming in from my employer. There were just the old structures rising up before me and the blank page in my lap.
    Sadly, my total focus on work resulted in my completely losing track of time. I was finishing up my third drawing of the Campanile when I got the feeling that someone was standing very close to me.
    “You are very talented,” Stefan said, eliciting a surprised little scream of me.
    My head popped up and my mouth dropped open at the sight of him. My first thought was shock at seeing him. My second thought was that he didn’t look particularly pleased to see me. But it was my third that I finally commented on. “It’s dark,” I murmured in wonder, only now noticing that I’d managed to position myself beneath a lamp without realizing it.
    “Yes, and you need to come with me now,” Stefan fairly snarled at me as he extended his hand. I flashed him a mutinous look, deciding whether I should let him know what I thought about his commands. “Do not,” he added in a deadly low voice that practically vibrated with menace.
    Something was going on that I didn’t quite understand and I was trusting that the vampire would explain things as soon as we were in a more private location. With a curt nod, I packed up my things and took his hand. I expected him to briskly walk with me to the nearest ferry back to Dorsoduro. A little scream of surprised escaped me a second time when Stefan wrapped one arm around my waist and took to the air.
    “You fly!” I said, wrapping my arms around him neck and clung to him with all my strength.
    “Yes.”
    “You could have warned me.”
    “Why? You’ve decided not to heed my warnings,” he said bitterly, anger flashing in his gray eyes like a thunderstorm.
    “What are you talking about?”
    “Did you not read the letter I left you?”
    “Oh, yeah. It was sweet, but I didn’t dream about you,” I said with a little smile.
    Stefan’s mood didn’t lighten with my attempt at humor. “I cautioned you not to travel at night. I cautioned you that this city was extremely dangerous. I hadn’t realized that you had a death wish. You had led me to believe otherwise when you requested last night that I not kill you.”
    “I don’t have a death wish.”
    “Then you are simply foolish.”
    I shoved away from Stefan the second my feet touched the ground in front of my apartment. “Listen here, buster. I didn’t mean to stay out past sunset. I even set an alarm on my phone so I would know when to head back to the apartment.” As I spoke, I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my phone, only to find that the battery had died. Yeah, alarms don’t work too well if the battery doesn’t last. It must have been from the phone calls I’d made earlier in the day. I hadn’t realized how much they had drained the battery.
    Making a sound of disgust at myself, I shoved my dead phone back into my pocket and proceeded to unlock the door. Maybe Stefan was right. I was incredibly foolish.
    “I’m sorry,” I murmured as I trudged up the stairs with Stefan following as silently as a ghost behind me. “I had intended to leave well before sunset so I’d be safely back here, but I got caught up in work and my reminder alarm never went off.”
    “You need to be more cautious,” Stefan said. It sounded as if some of the edge had left his voice, but he still wasn’t happy. I had imagined during my long walk today what it would be like to see him again. Arguing over my stupidity had never entered my mind and wasn’t exactly the most pleasing conversation we could have had.
    “You’re right. I will.” I put the key in the door to my apartment and unlocked it. Stepping aside to let him in, I shut the door behind him. “I just don’t understand what’s got you so worked up. No one bothered me while I was in the piazza. If there are vampires hunting in Venice, they weren’t in my part of town.”
    Stefan paced away from me,